Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic,

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

, Sudan, South Sudan,

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, Congo (DRC),

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and Cameroon. They include the pygmy languages Efé and Asoa. Blench (2011) suggests that Central Sudanic influenced the development of the noun-class system characteristic of the Atlantic–Congo languages.

Classification

Half a dozen groups of Central Sudanic languages are generally accepted as valid. They are customarily divided into East and West branches.

Blench (2023)

Blench cites the following classification: Sinyar–Formona is sparsely documented and its placement in the western branch is "provisional".

Starostin (2016)

Starostin (2016)George Starostin (2016) ''The Nilo-Saharan hypothesis tested through lexicostatistics: current state of affairs'' finds support for Eastern Central Sudanic ( Lendu, Mangbetu, Lugbara, etc., concentrated in the northeast corner of DR Congo) but not for the western division, which would include Bongo–Bagirmi and Kresh scattered across Chad, the CAR, and South Sudan. Starostin (2011) notes that the poorly attested language Mimi of Decorse is suggestive of Central Sudanic, though he provisionally treats it as an isolate. Boyeldieu (2010) states that the inclusion of Kresh has yet to be demonstrated, but Starostin (2016) finds good support, with Birri being its closest relative.

Bender (1992)

Lionel Bender (1992) classifies the Central Sudanic languages as follows, with Central Sudanic bifurcating into a ''Peripheral'' branch and a ''Central'' branch.Bender, Lionel M. 1992. "Central Sudanic segmental and lexical reconstruction." ''Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere'' 29: 5-61. *Central Sudanic **''Peripheral'' *** Moru–Madi ****Moru (Miza, etc.) ****Avukaya, Logo, Keliko ****Madi (Lokai, etc.) *** Mangbutu: Mamvu; Balese *** Mangbetu: Meje, Asua, Aka, Lombi *** Kresh: Kresh; Aja *** Baadha ( ''Baledha'', ''Lendu'') **''Central'' *** Bagirmi-Sara ****Barma (Bagirmi) ****Sara-Mbay ****Sara-Ngambay, Sara Kaba ****Baka *** Yulu-Binga *** Fongoro ***Shemya ( Sinyar) *** Bongoid ****Bongo ****Fer (Kara) ****Modo, Jur Beli

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

References

Sources

* Blench, Roger. 2011. "Can Sino-Tibetan and Austroasiatic help us understand the evolution of Niger-Congo noun classes?

CALL 41, Leiden. * Blench, Roger
Central Sudanic overview
* Blench, Roger. 2018
Core and peripheral noun morphology in Central Sudanic languages
Proceedings of the 13th Nilo-Saharan Conference University of Addis Ababa, 6 May 2017 * Starostin, George
On Mimi
Journal of Language Relationship, v. 6, 2011, pp. 115–140.

External links

A map of Central Sudanic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Central Sudanic Languages Central Sudanic languages, Language families